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The Insulin-Weight Loss Link You Want To Know About

The Insulin-Weight Loss Link You Want To Know About

by | Sep 6, 2022 | Weight Loss

Struggling to lose weight, no matter what you try? Find kilos sneaking on even when you eat well and exercise? Insulin may be to blame.

Insulin is an important hormone that we need. But when we have elevated insulin, it can lead to insulin resistance. And insulin resistance can make weight loss virtually impossible.

What is insulin resistance?

Insulin resistance (IR for short) occurs when you have high levels of insulin over a long period of time.

In this condition, your body is producing enough insulin to do its job, but your cells don’t respond to the insulin. Because your cells aren’t listening, your body tried to fix it by producing more insulin – which makes them more resistant!

This turns into a vicious cycle that can eventually lead to the development of type 2 diabetes.

Insulin resistance can also cause a lot of inflammation in the body, between the excess insulin in the bloodstream and the sugar (glucose) that lingers in the blood because the cells won’t take it up.

The link between insulin resistance and weight loss

Ok so now that you know what insulin resistance is – what does this have to do with weight loss?

Among other mechanisms, insulin is the major fat storage hormone of the body. So once your body’s cells have taken the energy they need from the bloodstream, your insulin will direct the remaining energy to store as fat.

But guess what happens if your cells are rejecting the glucose? That’s right – almost all of the glucose gets sent to be stored as body fat instead of little to none of it. A small amount gets stored in the muscles and liver, but the majority is going straight into storage for future use.

This is also why you seem to put on weight no matter how many calories you’re eating. Your body is not utilising the calories and is putting them away for later instead.

What can I do to lose weight, then?

There are a couple of steps to take:

  1. Address the underlying issue – insulin resistance. Stay tuned for a full article where I share my top tips to tackle IR.
  2. Ditch the calorie restriction and excessive exercise. These are only going to feed into the stress on your body, make you miserable and not help you lose weight!
  3. Turn to personalised nutrition. The only nutrition plan that will work for you is one that tailors to your needs and how your body processes nutrients, including glucose. To learn more about how I can help with this, check out The Glow Protocol here.
  4. Eat 3 square meals. Until recently, it was thought that the best way to manage glucose and insulin levels is to have small frequent meals during the day. However, research has uncovered that better glucose control in diabetic patients is achieved with 3 meals a day. The reason? When we eat frequently, insulin is continually being secreted by the pancreas and doesn’t have a chance to return to a baseline level.
  5. Consider evidence-based supplementation. No, I’m not talking about fat-burning supplements or laxatives! Again, we want to tackle the underlying concerns with targeted supplementation. That’s why I created my new supplement, Energy Glow NR.

    Amongst a host of other benefits, Energy Glow NR helps to support healthy blood glucose & metabolism of carbohydrates, both of which play a critical role in insulin resistance. Learn more about Energy Glow NR here.

Susie Garden

I help women feeling stressed, flat and older than they’d like regain their youthful energy and glow using a proven method so their natural beauty and confidence shines through.

How Blood Sugar Can Make Perimenopause A Nightmare

How Blood Sugar Can Make Perimenopause A Nightmare

by | Aug 30, 2022 | Perimenopause, Weight Loss

Is perimenopause taking you on a wild rollercoaster ride? There are several reasons why perimenopause is rough on some, but a big contributing factor is how your body regulates blood sugar.

Let’s look at how a common health condition, insulin resistance, can make perimenopause a nightmare for you.

What is insulin resistance (IR)?

IR occurs when you have consistently high levels of insulin. It’s a known precursor to type 2 diabetes, so you might see it referred to as pre-diabetes.

Insulin is a hormone that’s secreted by the pancreas in response to the glucose entering our blood. Its job is to allow glucose into our cells and store body fat.

In IR, your body produces plenty of insulin, but your cells don’t get the ‘message’. To try and fix the problem, your body will produce more insulin. Unfortunately, this just perpetuates the cycle by increasing the cells’ resistance to insulin.

Symptoms of insulin resistance

Some of the symptoms of insulin resistance include:

  • Weight gain or difficulty losing weight

  • Weight gain around the abdominal area

  • Sugar and carb cravings

  • Fatigue and low energy

  • Skin tags

  • Fatigue

  • Cognitive symptoms such as brain fog, memory issues and inability to focus

  • Hot flushes

  • Heavy, painful periods

  • High cholesterol or triglycerides

  • Fatty liver (NAFLD)

You might notice that there are a lot of symptoms that overlap with perimenopause. This is no coincidence – in many cases, it’s because perimenopause has led to (or at least contributed to) insulin resistance.

The effects on perimenopause

When there is too much insulin in the bloodstream, it can cause inflammation. One kind of inflammation it can cause is meta-inflammation (metabolic inflammation). This leads to the classic perimenopause symptoms of gaining weight around the belly area.

Then there’s also more sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream because cells aren’t ‘listening’ to insulin, which is a double-whammy for inflammation!

We also need to consider the relationship between insulin resistance and oestrogen. Oestrogen helps the brain to use glucose for energy and increases insulin sensitivity. So when your oestrogen levels drop off intermittently during the transition of perimenopause, you become more insulin resistant.

High stress is another common contributor to this perfect storm. During perimenopause, you’ll have a lower tolerance for stress thanks to the fluctuating hormones and drop in progesterone. Stress contributes to insulin resistance.

And if that wasn’t enough, insulin resistance can exacerbate the perimenopausal symptoms you already had! It becomes a never-ending cycle for many.

Adjusting to perimenopause

One of the biggest challenges your body and brain have during perimenopause is oestrogen fluctuations. In fact, the drop in oestrogen that occurs can lead to a drop of 25% in energy production and brain activity. As a result, you’re likely to have brain fog, forgetfulness, or just feel fatigued all the time.

It takes time to adjust to this, but if your brain re-calibrates, this is a temporary experience. The issue is that for some people, the brain doesn’t adjust and the low energy continues. It may even lead to Alzheimer’s disease, which we now know is linked to insulin resistance (it’s now known as type 3 diabetes!)

The key here is to ensure that you have metabolic flexibility – which we touched on in a previous blog. Otherwise, you might be on the path to feeling hungry, irritable, foggy and exhausted for a long time to come! Stay tuned for a future article where I’ll explore how to get insulin resistance under control.

There is no quick fix for insulin resistance!

When it comes to insulin resistance (and perimenopause) it takes time to see the results of diet and lifestyle changes. As a result, more people are looking for supplement options to help them reach their health goals quickly.

Honestly, when I looked for the type of supplement I wanted to fast-track my own well-being, my options were limited. That’s why I’ve formulated my own innovative supplement designed with healthy ageing in mind! Plus it helps to:

  • Support healthy blood glucose & metabolism of carbohydrates

  • Regulate a healthy menstrual cycle

  • Support healthy reproductive hormones

  • Support natural liver detoxification processes

Learn more about Energy Glow NR here.

Hi, I’m Susie.

I help women feeling stressed, flat and older than they’d like regain their youthful energy and glow using a proven method so their natural beauty and confidence shines through.

Looking for a recipe?

Susie Garden

I help women feeling stressed, flat and older than they’d like regain their youthful energy and glow using a proven method so their natural beauty and confidence shines through.

The Real Implications Of Insulin Resistance

The Real Implications Of Insulin Resistance

by | Aug 23, 2022 | Weight Loss

Have you been diagnosed with insulin resistance, or does it run in your family?

Most people think that it simply increases your risk of type 2 diabetes. But there are far more implications of insulin resistance than you might realise.

The role of insulin in the body

When it comes to insulin, the big role most of us already know about is stimulating your cells so they take up energy (glucose).

But there is much more to insulin than this mechanism (although don’t get me wrong, it’s an important one!)

Some of the other actions insulin is believed to be responsible for include:

  • Promoting muscle growth and repair by transporting amino acids to the muscle tissue

  • Supporting the uptake of lipids into fat cells

  • Facilitating the uptake of amino acids and potassium into cells

  • Modulating sodium and fluid volume in urine

  • Enhancing the brain’s ability to learn & memory

  • Supporting a regular menstrual cycle by maturing the egg for ovulation

As you can see, there are a lot of health implications when it comes to insulin.

Let’s talk insulin resistance

Now that we know a bit more about insulin, let’s look at where it can go wrong. The biggest concern is when you develop a condition known as insulin resistance (IR for short).

IR occurs when you have consistently high levels of insulin. It’s a known precursor to type 2 diabetes, so you might see it referred to as pre-diabetes.

In IR, your body is producing plenty of insulin, but your cells don’t get the ‘message’. To try and fix the problem, your body will produce more insulin. Unfortunately, this just perpetuates the cycle by increasing the cells’ resistance to insulin.

When there is too much insulin in the bloodstream, it can cause inflammation. Then there’s also more sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream because cells aren’t ‘listening’ to insulin, which is a double-whammy for inflammation!

WHAT INSULIN RESISTANCE CAN MEAN FOR YOU

Now that you have an understanding of what insulin resistance is – what does it actually mean?

At its root, insulin resistance is a sign of metabolic dysfunction. Something has thrown off the balance of your metabolism, and IR is your body trying to cope with it.

IR is also a major cause of reduced metabolic flexibility.

Metabolic flexibility is your body’s ability to respond or adapt to changes such as fuel types (glucose vs fats) or energy demand (e.g. exercise). Some of the benefits include steadier energy, fewer cravings, increased fat-burning and balanced blood sugar levels.

But when you are insulin resistant, this flexibility drops off. As a result, you’re more prone to sugar and carb cravings, constant hunger, energy crashes, mood swings and irritability. It also becomes much harder to shift excess fat from the body.

If that wasn’t enough to deal with, insulin resistance is also tied to:

  • Premature/accelerated ageing

  • Stubborn weight gain and belly fat

  • Increased inflammation

  • Reduced stress tolerance

Stay tuned for future blogs exploring these links and what you can do to prevent them.

THERE IS NO QUICK FIX FOR INSULIN RESISTANCE!

When it comes to insulin resistance, it takes time to see the results of diet and lifestyle changes (more on that in a future blog!) So more people are looking for supplement options to help them reach their health goals quickly.

Honestly, when I looked for the type of supplement I wanted to fast-track my own wellbeing, my options were limited. That’s why I’ve formulated my own innovative supplement designed to support healthy ageing! Plus it helps to support healthy blood glucose & metabolism of carbohydrates, both of which play a critical role in insulin resistance. Learn more about Energy Glow NR here.

Susie Garden

I help women feeling stressed, flat and older than they’d like regain their youthful energy and glow using a proven method so their natural beauty and confidence shines through.